Shallim is one of the 10,000 rickshaw drivers who daily pull their live cargo barefoot through the streets of Calcutta. Under the threat of a new law that would ban his age-old profession, Shallim dreams of saving enough money to purchase a motorized rickshaw. However, the vagaries of family life and sickness continually frustrate these aspirations. By following Shallim through the streets of Calcutta, director LEE Seoung-gyou reveals that despite their hardships, Shallim and his friends rely on their dreams – and more importantly, each other – in order to survive.

Lee Seong-Gyou was born in Chuncheon, South Korea in 1963 and began his career as a writer for radio and television in 1990. Shortly afterward, he started directing and producing documentaries. His interest has been focused on the social and cultural issues of migrant workers from Nepal and India. Amongst over a dozen documentaries he directed and produced for both film and television, Lee produced director YI Seung-jun’s<Children of God> (2009), which won the NETPAC Award at the 2008 JeonjuInternational Film Festivaland a Telly Award in 2009.